webnovelvip Chapter 225 Dirty Tricks
Chapter 225 Dirty Tricks
Chapter 225 Dirty Tricks
As night fell, it slowly painted the sky over Kaishanjingcheng like thick ink. The Google headquarters campus, which usually becomes quite empty at this time of day, was unusually bustling tonight.
From above, the lights of Google's headquarters complex gleam like an overturned diamond box in the night.
Almost every workstation on each floor was lit up, with employees sitting upright in front of their computers, the sound of their fingers tapping on the keyboard creating a unique nocturne, and very few people getting up to pack their things and leave.
This scene is considered a miracle within Google, and long-time observers who witness it would likely be astonished.
Google promotes a flexible work system, which gives employees a great deal of freedom in their work, allowing them to flexibly arrange their commuting time according to their own pace of life and work status.
On ordinary days, let alone the entire company's employees gathering at their workstations, even for the same project team, getting all members together requires coordinating their schedules in advance.
In most cases, aside from holding new project launch meetings, assigning work tasks, or organizing departmental team building activities, it is common for employees in the same group to not see each other for two or three days at a time.
This relaxed work environment has always been a key factor in Google's attraction of top talent, but today it seems that this norm has been broken.
The B3 office building is the exclusive office space for Google's search group.
In the two months since the new headquarters moved in, as the project has progressed, batches of new office buildings have been completed, inspected, and put into use.
B3 office building is one of them. During this period, Google Search Group employees moved out of their temporary offices in batches and into this new office building with better facilities.
At Google headquarters, the office building numbers are carefully chosen, with each letter prefix corresponding to a specific business segment, essentially forming an internal identity code.
For example, headquarters staff are concentrated in office buildings prefixed with "A," while Google Search, as the core business and the foundation of the company, is named starting with "B." The Gmail team is located in office buildings starting with "C," Google Music is in area D, and Google Video operates in area E.
Therefore, within Google, as long as someone mentions their office building number, others can immediately make a rough judgment about the business area they belong to.
Even among office buildings with the same letter prefix, the size of their numbering can reveal hidden meanings.
Taking the B-series office buildings as an example, B1 and B2 are mainly used by the management and non-technical staff of Google Search Group.
Starting from B3, it becomes the territory for technical staff.
Moreover, the earlier the office building number, the higher the technical level of the employees in the building.
While this is not an absolute rule, it is certain that in office buildings with earlier numbers, employees are often responsible for more core and important tasks.
Take the B3 office building as an example. If an employee tells a colleague that they work in B3, Google employees will understand that you are a Google search engineer, and one with very strong technical skills.
"Hey Rivers, why did you add pet books to your shopping cart? Are you trying to teach your golden retriever to read? Are you sure it can understand them?"
In the work area on the second floor of the B3 office building, Philop had just finished paying for an order on her computer when she turned around and saw Rivers sitting next to her, intently selecting items on his screen. Upon closer inspection, she saw that his shopping cart contained more than a dozen books labeled "Pet Behavior" and "Dog Training Guide." Philop couldn't help but tease him, her tone full of disbelief.
Upon hearing this, Rivers slowly raised his head, revealing an expression of utter disbelief, and leisurely replied, "It may not be able to read, but it can definitely tear things apart."
"Philop, I think you should buy some for your cat too. They'd be great as chew toys or scratching tools."
Upon hearing this, Philop's expression froze instantly. It took her a while to recover before she frowned and said, "Isn't that an outrageous idea? Using company subsidies to buy toys for pets? Isn't that a waste of resources and harms the company's interests?"
Rivers rolled his eyes at Philop, tapped his fingers lightly on the keyboard, added a few more books to his shopping cart, and said nonchalantly, "What's this waste? I'm only buying about twenty books in total."
"I heard from a colleague in the next department this morning that someone bought hundreds of books at once, covering various fields such as novels, history, and science and technology, and the company didn't say anything about it."
"Besides, this is a benefit explicitly offered by the company. We're using it according to the rules, so what's the problem?"
The benefits Rivers mentioned are the same benefits Ernst was referring to for the company's employees.
To encourage employees to maintain a learning habit and broaden their knowledge, the company stipulates that employees can apply for a subsidy of half the cost of each book they purchase, with a maximum subsidy of $10 per book.
The reason why this benefit is so popular among employees is closely related to the reading habits of Western people.
Globally, Europe has the highest per capita book purchase rate, followed by the United States in second place.
According to statistics released by The New York Times last year, in 1996, Americans bought more than 8.75 books per person, and spent more than $105 on books per person.
If we exclude the lower classes who read almost nothing and only consider the American elite, these two figures would rise significantly. The average person buys more than 15 books and spends an average of $200 on books.
Google's book purchase subsidy policy undoubtedly gave employees a great opportunity to get books at half price, so naturally no one would give it up easily.
This is why Hamilton said Ernst was too mean.
Ernst added two restrictions to this book purchase subsidy program.
First, employees must purchase books through the Amazon platform; second, book purchases are limited to a short half-hour period from 7:00 PM to 7:30 PM each day.
Although Google doesn't have a large number of employees, their enthusiasm for buying books is so high that many people not only buy for themselves but also for their family and friends. The number of orders generated in just half an hour is quite considerable.
Moreover, Google is not the only company enjoying this benefit; MGM, a subsidiary of Ernst, and other companies such as Leap Games have also launched the same book purchase subsidy policy.
But none of these are the most crucial factors. The truly lethal weapon is PayPay, the online payment company, which is the secret weapon behind this attack on Amazon's back-end system.
Previously, PayPal had attempted to partner with Amazon to integrate its online payment functionality into the Amazon platform, but Bezos refused to even open the door to Ernst's company.
But for every plan you have, there's a countermeasure. It's not difficult for Ernst to use Amazon to grow his PayPal user base.
Amazon currently offers four main payment methods: credit card, debit card, bank account transfer, cash on delivery, and Amazon's own gift card payment.
Among these payment methods, cash on delivery is a service that Amazon offers in partnership with multiple courier companies. While PayPal cannot directly access Amazon's payment system, it can establish partnerships with courier companies in the United States.
PayPaI has partnered with major courier companies such as FedEx, allowing users to pay directly to the courier company via PayPaI after selecting cash on delivery when purchasing goods on the Amazon platform.
Moreover, PayPay rewards users with $2 for each such payment completed.
Books in the United States are not cheap; the average price of a regular book is between $8 and $10. A $2 subsidy is a significant discount for consumers.
Ernst launched this subsidy policy not only to counter Amazon, but more importantly, he hoped to rapidly expand PayPay's user base and get more users used to PayPay online payments, laying the foundation for PayPay's future dominance.
Those who can use PayPay now are all high-net-worth individuals, who represent the greatest consumer force and are the most sought-after customers by all banks.
This time period is usually Amazon's peak transaction time. With such a massive influx of data, it's hard for Amazon's technical team not to notice the abnormal changes in the backend data.
The next morning, when Bezos, dressed in his signature blue shirt and looking energetic, walked into Amazon's headquarters building as usual, ready to head to his office to start a new day, he was hurriedly stopped by Amazon's technical director, Martial, before he even reached the office door.
Martial was pale, with fine beads of sweat on his forehead and dark circles under his eyes that looked like he was wearing smoky makeup, clearly indicating that he hadn't slept all night.
He grabbed Bezos's arm and said urgently, "Last night our server load reached an all-time high and almost crashed. The tech team worked through the night on emergency maintenance to barely keep the system running."
Upon hearing this, Bezos stopped in his tracks instantly, and the smile on his face vanished without a trace.
He turned his head sharply, stared at Martial with disbelief, and asked in a trembling voice, "What did you say?"
The server almost crashed? How is that possible? Amazon's user numbers and order data have been growing, but the growth rate has been very stable. How could there suddenly be such a big fluctuation? There must be something wrong here.
"What on earth is going on?" Bezos's voice instantly rose eight octaves, his tone filled with anxiety and anger. The employees passing by were startled by the sudden shout and stopped in their tracks, looking over curiously.
Martial glanced at Bezos cautiously, pulled a thick data report from his folder, handed it to Bezos with both hands, and said in a low voice, "This is the detailed report of the backend data from last night. Please take a look."
"According to the data, the surge in order volume and payment requests was mainly concentrated between 7 pm and 7:3 pm. In just half an hour, the data exceeded three times the usual amount."
"After I noticed the anomaly last night, I immediately arranged for my team to investigate, and the results showed that—"
"What are you hesitating for? Just spit it out!" Bezos glared at him, annoyed. What time was it for him to be so hesitant?
Martial, feeling helpless, could only say, "We discovered it was PayPal's doing. They partnered with courier companies like FedEx to subsidize our users during this period. And I've heard about various companies under Ernst..."
Martial swallowed hard and recounted everything he knew, continuing, "Last night was the first day, and many users were unaware of the news. Judging from the current situation, even more users will definitely learn about it today, and the traffic surge Amazon will face tonight will be even greater than last night."
"Moreover, PayPay's subsidies are currently limited to the United States. If they expand the subsidies to other parts of North America, or even the entire European market, the consequences would be unimaginable. Our servers simply cannot withstand such pressure."
"Ernst!" Bezos gripped the data report tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. He gritted his teeth as he uttered the name, a fierce glint in his eyes, before suddenly letting out a roar.
"That bastard! He actually used such despicable means to deal with Amazon. I will never forgive him."
Bezos's roar echoed in the empty corridor, drawing the attention of employees at their workstations.
Although no one knew what had happened, seeing Bezos's gloomy face, they all wisely lowered their heads and pretended to be focused on their work, afraid of accidentally getting into trouble.
Bezos took a few deep breaths, trying to calm his anger, then turned to Martial and asked coldly, "What about the hard drives we ordered from Western Digital? Haven't the suppliers shipped them yet?"
Martial's expression darkened further. He shook his head helplessly and said, "Western Digital can provide us with some hard drives urgently, but their manufacturing plant is located elsewhere. The transportation and subsequent installation and debugging of the hard drives will take time, and it will take at least three days for them to arrive."
Marshall paused, then added in a low voice, "Given last night's traffic volume and the potential for further growth tonight, our existing server resources may struggle to withstand tonight's traffic surge."
Upon hearing this, Bezos's face instantly turned ashen. He took a step forward, his furious face almost touching Martial's, his fists clenched so tightly he nearly grabbed Martial's collar.
He said viciously, "You want me to lower myself and beg for mercy from that shameless guy? Don't even dream about it."
"Listen, Martial," Bezos's voice was filled with unquestionable authority, "I don't care what methods you use, Amazon's servers cannot have any problems tonight. That's the bottom line."
After saying this, Bezos didn't look at Martial again, turned around and stormed off to his office, leaving Martial standing there alone, his face full of helplessness and anxiety.
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